Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Yup...I Am At Home

Surprise, Surprise, it's me, home in the middle of the week. Not that I want to be here, mind you, but sometimes things can't be helped.
For the last month or so I have been having issues with the pump that pumps water from my well into my house. At very odd times, that are still unexplained, the pump will just not turn on and eventually my water pressure in the house will slow to a trickle and then a drip until there is no water pressure at all. Other times, let's say after I use the washing machine, it will trickle for a little while then the pump will kick on and it will be fine again. Now it is my understanding that a properly operating pump will switch on when the water level reaches a certain point. I know there is something wrong with the switch and not the water supply because it will turn on but it seems to be anyone's guess as to when. The longest I have had to wait for the pump to turn on in recent months has been about 4-6 hours. That isn't a really big deal since I live alone and I am the only one who would need the shower, and it doesn't happen every day, in fact my water pressure has been good for the last 10 days or so. But yesterday, I got home from work and had very little water pressure. I did my supper dishes and waited for the pump to go on so I could jump in the shower. Well...I finally gave up and went to bed around 10. By then I had just an occasional drip coming from the faucet. I set my alarm so I could get up a little earlier so I would have time to shower before work. Wrong. I got up at 3:30 and still no water. At 5:30 I still had nothing so I had to call work and explain I wouldn't be in because I had to finally deal with this problem. It had been at least 12 hours since the pump had gone on and I figured the switch finally gave out. I waited until 8 to call the plumber, and I told the dispatcher what was going on. I'm still waiting for someone to call me back. The dispatcher did say that they are shorthanded today and a lot of people have been having water in their basements and similar problems because of all the melting that's been going on around here. She was very apologetic, which I appreciate, but I have a feeling I could be waiting awhile. :-(
In any event, it looks like I have the day off. Too bad I can't take off and run errands or even stay here and do laundry. My hair needs to be washed and I probably don't smell all that great so I shouldn't leave the house anyway. I have a couple movies I can watch so I suppose that will keep me occupied after I finish here.

It's been really busy for me at work the last couple of days. My supervisor had a couple days off and I was trying to keep up with my own work load and tackle some of hers too. My manager surely kept me busy since he wanted some things shipped and that was a job I hadn't done all the way through yet. I got a crash course, that's for sure. I don't think I want my supervisor's job. LOL I was run ragged the last couple of days and pretty much ready to drop by the time I got home.
We also had a new girl start work in our department on Monday and it is usually my job to train the new hires so I had that to do on top of everything else. She seems to catch on really fast and I don't think she will have any problems fitting in with our group.

The weekend was a busy one. Saturday was my day to run errands and then we had dinner with my brother. We ended up hanging out there for awhile and watched a movie before calling it a night. Sunday morning we drove up to Concord and met George's son Jon and Jon's fiancee Nicki for breakfast. It was my first time meeting them both and I was excited. We went back to their home after breakfast and they showed us pictures of their recent trip to Florida and the renovations they are making to their Condo. Nicki is very bubbly and talkative and obviously excited about their engagement. (Jon proposed at Disney World in Cinderella's Castle) I was interested in hearing about their upcoming wedding and they just set a date for April 4th, 2009, so now they can make definite plans. Jon is a very serious 23 year old and I am very impressed with him. He is tackling most of the renovations himself and seems to know what he's doing. He works for a Hyundai dealership as a Master Mechanic (perks...I drive a Hyundai) and loves what he does. He is very much like his father was some 25 years ago. So now the only one left to meet is Patrick and that is going to be a challenge. Pat is going to Culinary Arts school and also works as a chef at a resort up at Lake Winnipesaukee. He has a very busy schedule going to school during the week and working weekends but we might go up to the resort for breakfast some Sunday. That might be the only way for me to catch him right now.

After we left Jon's house, we went for a drive up to Gilford to the Smith Farm Sugar House. It was New Hampshire's Maple weekend and all of the local Sugar Houses having tours and refreshments. Maple Sugaring is a big industry up here and I never realized just how much fun going to the sugar house can be. We were too late for the actual tour but I got some literature about the whole process and sampled some of the maple ice cream which was delicious. Apparently this was a very good year for maple sap and although it wasn't in huge abundance, the quality is expected to be very good, as opposed to last year when the sap was in short supply. Freezing nights and sunny days are needed to create the pressure in the maple trees that causes the sap to run from the tapped holes in the trunks. It was really interesting and next year I want to make sure we go early enough in the day to get a grand tour.

Well lo and behold...I just heard water running in the sink and I went to check and the pump just turned on, all by itself. That's really weird, but I'm glad it's running! Maybe now I can finally get a shower.



I let the tank fill up and flushed the toilet, waited a bit and then did the dishes. The pump went on again about 10 minutes later and refilled the tank. I just got out of the shower and the water pressure held. I am going to wait and see if the pump goes on again and then call the plumber. It still needs to be looked at but maybe they can put me on tomorrow's list instead of worrying about it today since they are so busy. Maybe I should go into work for at least half a day. Or maybe I should stay home and relax. LOL Decisions, decisions.

Well I better get this posted...seems like it's taken me forever to get this darn thing posted today.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

10 comments:

Karla said...

Hope you get the problem fixed soon...Being without water is worse than being without electricity...
Wowsa..maybe I should come to NH next spring and go to one of those sugar festival things..sounds delicious :-)

LadyStyx said...

Sounds like we all should Karla ;).

*shakes head @ plumbing issue* Man that sux. Karla's right...losing water is a WHOLE LOT worse than losing electric (although that would be debatable if there was a whole freezer of meats that you just bought...). At least with a power outage...if it's daytime and nice you can open the curtains and read.

Lainie said...

Living in the sticks...if I lose power I lose water anyway cos my pump runs off of electricity. It's running ok for now but will have it dealt with on Friday.

ChicagoLady said...

Of course it took you forever, it was LONG! LOL

I hope you get your pump problems fixed, it's kind of hard these days to go without any water.

Party at Lainie's next April?

AliceKay said...

It sounds like you're having a very nice time meeting George's family and he's having a nice time meeting yours. :)

We have a lot of sugar shacks around here too. Several families in the area tap the maple trees and produce maple products this time of year.

I hope they figure out what might be the problem. We still have pump problems from time to time. It's not fun. I feel for you, Lainie. *hugs* (living in the sticks has a few disadvantages, doesnt it?)

Intense Guy said...

I you ever seen the insides of one of those well water pumps? The last one I saw was coated with slimy muck and half rusted solid.

The switch / sensor gizmo was sticking on the one I saw because of the build up of crud. The water was nice and clean though. I could never figure out how come.

Hope you get yours fixed Lainie - the only thing worse than no water might be the never knowing if you are gonna have any.

AliceKay said...

Sounds like the switch we just replaced in our pump, Iggy. You sure you weren't here checking us out? LOL

Lainie said...

The water pump has been running perfectly fine since yesterday morning. My pump is in a pump house located on the side of my house. It's not covered with slime or crud but I wouldn't be surprised if it was rusty because even though my water runs clean, it is loaded with iron and is considered 'hard'. I probably should install a water softener but they are rather expensive and I really don't want to put any more money than is necessary into this place since I plan on unloading it in the next year or so.
You're all welcome to come up to the Maple Run...which will probably be the last weekend of March next year. There are some Sugar Houses where you can actually gather the sap yourself and help with the process. Sounds too much like work to me. I'd rather just sample the finished product!

Kerry said...

the one time it's nice to be livin in the city..... water hot when I want it... I do have a hot water tank to worry it might be get shut off.. when Scotty was a puppy some how he managed to blow out the pilot light on it a couple times.... but within 20 minutes I could shower. it's just a pain in the ass to discover the pilot light out at 4 in the morning. Speaking of which I get to sleep in tomorrow!! (45 minutes extra woohoo)

AliceKay said...

We have hard water here too, Lainie....so what little galvanized pipe that's there gets rusty. Terri finally put a filter on it when he replaced the switch last time.